The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 March the International Day of Forests in 2012 to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of all types of forests. On December 21, 2012, the sixty-seventh UN General Assembly officially adopted and endorsed a resolution that the day of March 21st is determined as the International Day of Forests since 2013. For celebrating the first International Forest Day, the State Forestry Administration of P. R. China and China’s National Greening Commission jointly hosted a tree planting Campaign of the First International Day of Forests on March 21st 2013 in Beijing.

The campaign is focused on “working together to build a beautiful China through forest protection and management”. More than 500 senior officials, guests, diplomats and journalists from the State Forestry Administration, Embassies, diplomatic departments and international organizations in Beijing participated in this significant campaign. Mr. Qu Guilin, the Secretary General of APFNet Secretariat was invited to attend this event.

Mr. Zhao Shucong, Minister of the State Forestry Administration, Mr. Wu Gongbo, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ms. Jan McAlpine, Director of the United Nations Forest Forum, Mr. Zhang Xinsheng, Deputy President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Peruvian ambassador to China and representative of United Nations Development Programme presented the opening ceremony as major guests. Through their remarks, it is called for global attention on Protection and sustainable management of forest resources in all countries of the world. Peoples all over the world are encouraged to participate in the activities of global initiatives to plant trees, to continuously protect ecological environment for combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and mitigating impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought.